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(No Model.)

L. W. BROWN.

vROAD 0R PAVEMENT RAMMER.

No. 535,527. PatentedMar. 12, 1895.

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NITED STATES 'PATENT Ormes.

LEROYV. BROWN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO MARY J.BROWN AND ALFRED L. BROWN, OF SAME PLACE.

ROAD 0R PAVEMENT RAMMER'L SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 535,527, dated March 12, 1895.

Application led April 10,1893. Serial No. 469,678. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEROY WV. BROWN, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Road or'PavementRammers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in machines for ramming andconsolidating the materials of roads and pavements. Its obj eet is tosecure increased efficiency of operation combined with simplicity ofconstruction and facility of management and regulation, and it consistsin the. construction, arrangement and combination of parts to effect theobjects aforesaid.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side View in elevation of a machineembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a front end view, and Fig. 3 a rearend view, both in elevation. Fig.` 4L is a detail showing a modificationof the rammer arms, also a method of adjusting the amount of theirmovements. Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the gearing,dac.

A represents the bed or frame of the machine.

B is a boiler, and C an engine, mounted thereon.

D D are the driving wheels, driven by gears, d, d d2 d3 from the mainshaft e of the engine.

F F are bearing wheels which act also as guiding or steering wheels, andmay, with advantage, be considerably wider than the driving wheels, soas to distribute the weight of the machine over a greater surface andact as rollers, and in any case are set so as to cover more or lessground outside the track of the driving wheels.

G G G are rammer arms, mounted on a shaft h and carrying at their lowerextremities rammers g g g2. The rammer arms G have each a projectionorymshort arm 'i extending laterally or rearwardly from the shaft 71.and adapted to be engaged by a series of revolving cams .I J secured toa shaft j which extends across `the machine in such relative position tothe shaft h that the cams .I will strike the projections t' and move thesame backward or downward, thus lifting the forward ends of arms G,until the highest point of the cam passes the projection t' when arm Gis left free to fall, and deliver the blow of its rammer g upon thematerial to be rammed. The cam shaftj is driven by gears ezfjs fromshaft c, and the shafts h andj are each supported in suitable bearings,as k lo 7o', dac., secured to the frame A, upon which also a suitabledoor is laid, and

. if preferred a cab or other suitable inclosure may be erected thereonto cover or inolose the engine and boiler. This I prefer to do but it isnot essential.

L represents a water tank, and L a fuel box. These may be placed besideeach other if preferred, and in cities where water is readily obtainablefrom street hydrants, dre., the wa` ter tank may be dispensed with.

M is a check-bar extending across below the arms G, and having at eachend an upright guide m which slides in the ways fn. The guides mm arejoined at their upper ends by a cross bar o through which a screw p isthreaded having a hand wheel p at its upper end. A rigid bearing p2secured to the frame A forms a bearing for the lower end of the screw,so that by turning the screw p the bar o and check-bar M are raised orlowered. By this means the arms G can be lifted and held clear ofobstructions when the machine is to be transported from place to place.The bar M can also be used to limit the drop of the arms G in ramming,and thus the weight of the blow delivered by the rainmers g g', doc.,can be very exactly regulated.

The guiding of the machine by the wheels F is effected as follows: Theaxle f passes through a housing r, which incloses the middle part oftheaxle extending some distance each side of the center, and carries ateach end a bearing for the axle. From the center of the housing r astrong king-bolt r? extends up through a bearing s secured to the frameA, and is provided at its upper end, above the floor of the machine,with a segment gear t, with which a gear t2 on the stem of a hand wheelq is engaged, so that by turning the wheel q the axlef can be turned ineither direction to guide the machine as desired.

The rammers, g g the., are preferably formed IOS) with the forwardportion of their under surface inclined upward at a slight angle, sayfifteen degrees, the purpose of this being that the road material to berammed and consolidated shall lirst receive a comparatively light blowfrom this inclined portion of the face of the rammer, whereby thematerial will be settled and so far compacted that the subsequent heavyblows of the iiat face of the rammer will consolidate the materialwithout displacing it, since it is well known that a heavy blowdelivered upon uncompacted material tends rather to scatter and disperseit than to consolidate it. Itis equally well known that a number ofmoderate or comparatively light blows successively delivered upon thesame spotwill more thoroughlycompact and consolidateioose material, suchas broken stone,sand. gravel, cinders, dac., than a fewer number ofheavier blows, this principle being applied in the common operation oftamping. I therefore prefer to gear the machine so that the rammers g g,dac., shall make at least two full blows on each part of the surfacetraversed, and to do this I gear the machine so that the driving wheelsshall advance a space about equal to the longitudinal dimension of theflat face of the rammers with each revolution of the cam shaft j, and asthe cams cause the arms Gto deliver two blows at each revolution of theshaft j, it follows that every portion of the surface rammed willreceive three blows, one moderatel blow from the inclined part of theface and two full blows from the fiat face of the rammer.

The cams J are preferably separable from their shaft j and adjustablethereon, and may be set to lift the -rammer arms, simultaneously,alternately, or in any preferred order. Thus, in ramming roads or drivesthat have considerable crown the outer rammers on each side may be madeto strike before the central rammers, which will better preserve thecrown of the surface. Converselywhen ramminga iiat surface the rammersmay be made to fall alternately, or in ramming concave surfaces, as inalleys or gutters, the central rammers may be made to strike first andthe outer ones last.

Although the blow delivered by the fall of the rammer and rammer arm isordinarily sufficient, it may be aided by the action of a spring uinterposed between the arm G and the bed of the machine. In order toregulate the force of the blow delivered by the rarnmers I adjust theamount of lift, as it is obvious that the blow will be the heavier thefarther the rammers fall. This adjustment I prefer to make by moving theshaft h, as this does not interfere with the gearing by which shaft j isoperated, although the adjustment may be effected by moving shaftjinstead of h. 'Io effect such adjustment I make the boxes which carryshaft h movable in their hangers and arrange a screw n to cause theboxesto traverse, so that by turning this screw the boxes may be movedfarther from the cam shaft j, when the blow will of course be lighter,or if moved nearer to the cam shaft the lift will be greater and theblow heavier. I prefer to adjust the shaft h vertically, but it mayequally well be adjusted horizontally, though less conveniently.

Although I` have shown the rammer arms G formed like bell-crank levers,and placed below the bed of the machine, I do not limit myself to suchconstruction, as they may equally wellbe formed straight, the short armor projection t' extending back in line with the forward part, as shownin Fig. 4, and they can also be placed above the bed of the machineinstead of below it. Neither doI limit myself to the exact arrangementof gearing, shafts, &c., shown, as the essential spirit of luy-inventionconsists in arranging the rammers on a series of lever arms to beoperated by cams or equivalent means so as to lift the levers and allowthe rammers to strike by gravity, and in arranging the sameto beoperated by the same power which advances the truck or carriage uponwhich they are borne, and various modifications of the mechanism can bemade, without departing from my invcntion.

Obviously where electric power is conveniently obtainable it may be usedinstead of steam or other power.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. In a road and pavement rammer the combination of a truck, a source ofpower mounted thereon and arranged to impart motion to said truck, alaterally arranged series of horizontally disposed lever arms carryingrammers at their outer ends, and a seriesof-cams arranged t0 engage theinner ends of said lever arms and receiving motion from the same Sourceof power, as the truck, substantially as specified.

2. In a road and pavement rammer the combination of a truck, an enginemounted thereon and imparting motion to said truck, a series ofhorizontally disposed levers arranged upon a transverse shaft, andcarrying rammers at their outer ends, and a series of cams arranged upona shaft and engaging the inner ends of said levers, saidcams receivingmotion from said engine, substantially as described.

3. In a road and pavement rammer the combination of a truck, an enginemounted thereon and imparting motion thereto, a series of rammer armsmounted on ashaft and carrying at theirouter ends rammers having a fiatand an inclined face, a series of cams arranged upon a shaft andengaging theinner ends of the rammer arms, a check bar arrangedtransversely beneath said rammer arms, and means for lifting said checkbar to raise the rammer arms clear of obstructions, substantially asdescribed.

4. In a road and pavement rammer the combination of a truck havingmotive power thereon arranged to propel said truck, a series ofhorizontally disposed rammer arms IOO IZO

mounted upon an adjustable shaft and carrying rammers at their outerends, and a series of cams mounted upon a shaft which receives motionfrom the propelling mechanism of said 5 truck, saidcams engagingwtheinner ends of `the rammer arms, substantially as described.

5. In a road and pavement rammer the combination with a truck havingmotive power of a series of ralnmers arranged on the ends of rohorizontally disposed lever arms, a series of cams engaging the rammerarms and mounted on a shaft which receives motion from the motive powerof the truck, and means for varying the distance between the cams andthe r 5 rammer arms to regulate the force of the blow delivered by therammers, substantially as dcscribed.

6. In a road and pavement rammer the ram- LEROY W. BROWN.

Witnesses:

L. PRENTIss, P. PREN'rIss.

